Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-05-01

get IN here. L have seen PICK
pocket hustled along like hit OF down
in the wind from one block 10 another.
while apparently an innocent spectator
OF a street parade.
And yet on the other hand they
elude observation very often. The
hostiles are not always on bad terms
either You will sometimes see bur
glar and detective nod pleasantly as
they pass each other, and even stop
for moments chat. Perhaps the de-
tectiye may have once sent the thief
up for term of years, but the thief
IS even the more proud of the ac-
quaintance on that account, and likes
TO ask the officer il it WAS not "a
eood job he went to jail for. A re-
ply in the Affirmative is like meat AMI
strong drink 10 criminal.
IIRR-EscATFs AND ESCAPED ToUGHs.
The utility OF fre-escapes has been
well tested during the past week, for
there have been several big tenement
house fires. and il it had not been for
the iron ladders on the outside OF the
buildings an appalling loss OF life would
Internationally have resulted. In nearly
every ease tte fires in the big tenement
houses have eaten away the stairways
first A fire in tenement at night is
an awful thing, for the men, women,
and children are packed away seventy
or eighty feet above the ground at the
rate of fifty or sixty on floor, and they
are absolutely at the mercy of the
flames unless the proper fire-escapes are
at hand There is one thing that every
citizen in New York believes in with
his heart and soul-and that is the fire
department. In the tenement fires OF
last week the tenants gathered in groups
on the fire-escapes high up in the air
and waited with white faces for the ar
rival of the fire department. Few ii
any of them attempted to climb down
the narrow ladders. They simply
cluDg together and watched the streets
below.
When the life saving corps Of the fire
department got to them they obeyed the
firmeen like children. and followed each
other down the ladders under the dircc-
ton of the popular heroes without n
thought of revolt or independent ac-
lion.
The teEement-hOuse people are not
always docile. however. In the pres
cnce of the flames they are terrified,
but when they 90 abroad they develop
into terrOrs themselves. When they
begin the excursion season they are q
Constsnt menace to the thousand OF
New Workers who are anxious to live in
the suburbs, where they can come TO
town every day. The crowds of ex-
cursionists whoop things up ut stated
intervals during the summer season.
"Ihe O'Mulligan Coteries," "Gcntle-
mems Sons from Way Back" Real
Hoods" "Squarc-Back Rangers.
"O'Gnligan's Own Friends, and other
such exclusive social organizations leave
the city every day in fine weather and
settle like a flock OF locust on the prettiest
country within easy reach. When the
New York tough is off on holiday the
universe itself stands in awe. Such n
thing Us casual murder does not dis
turb any ones serenity during the pic
nc season, and the invasion OF private
grounds, including insults to an un-
protected family, and general carnage
among the flowers and shrubbery, pass
as the regulation thing Some of the
places along the Hudson have armed
constablos with shotguns, howitzers,
&c, TO keep the eXcursionists off, but
the danger which turks at these
points seems to add an addi-
tional charm TO them. and the roughs
and toughs of both sexes make
the beautiful environs of New York
a source Of terror instead Of happiness
10 the reputable citizens of the town.
Efforts are making to abate the evil to
a certain extent by providing regular
grounds for the pic-nics. But the
genuine New York tough likes his bit of
nature in simple form. He dOesn tcare
for swings, merry eO-rounds, flowers,
shooting galleries and other tlme-hon-
clod and familiar appurtenances of the
professional picnic grounds, but likes
that which is natures own. Hence he
dtscends with malice aforethought OH
the spot where he is least expected, and
havoc and misery results. The river is
ahoat with police boats, and the shores
ale lined with armed men in prepare
ton for the usual spring outing of the
Ntw York tough.
AN EXPLORER FROM FRANCE.
| have had an interesting interview
with French mechanician, Victor De-
lahav. who has Just arrived in this
country upon special mission in be-
half Of his Government He has been
sent here by the Minister of the Int
rior, Lockroy, to examine the iron
works that construct the machinery
used in textile manufactures, with Is
view TO the introduction OF similar
establishments in France upon pecu-
liar syetem. The French Government
proposes to erect these works itself,
with funds drawn from the public
treasury, and deliver them over to
the Society Of Mechanicisns, which shall
run them on its own account and de-
rive such advantages rs may accrue
flom them. If the report given by the
Cficial ogent now i'll this country is
favorable the Minister will secure an
appropriation of G,000,0U0 francs for
the prosecution Of the scheme, and thus
an extensive industry will be intro
GucCd into France under circumstances
calculated TO promote its development.
Nearly all the machinery now used
there in the textile manufacture is pur-
chased in Belgium and England, but 1t
is believed that there are inventions in
use in this country which enable
our ilon-works TO turn ont ma
chinery far superior to that procured
from Belgium or England, and it is
TO examine the facts of the case that
Mir. Delahay has been sent on his mis-
sion. There are many Americans who
will ridicnle the idea OF the Govern
ment assuming the direction of such
an industrial project and putting it in
the hands of the skilled workmen but
it must lie remembered that the French
Government undertakes many func-
tons which are regarded as beyond the
province of ours, and that French
woIkmcn have within late years been
making imperative demands upon
the state TO extend its operations in
the industrial line. The present Min
ister Of the Interior favors these de-
mands in "a greater measure than any OF
| biS t,pe6aaaccorc has vet done Re-